In the 17th and the early 18th centuries there were ample opportunities to
work as a musician in Germany. Many cities and aristocratic courts had their
own chapels. The best musicians were expected to compose instrumental music,
music for special occasions like birthdays and weddings, sometimes operas
and, of course, religious works. As most music was performed only once and
compositions were considered old-fashioned within about ten years, there was
a continuous demand for new music. Against this background it is hardly surprising
that some of the composers of the 17th and 18th centuries have so far escaped
the attention of modern scholars and performers.

The composers represented on this disc all fall into that category. None of
them has an entry in New Grove, and none of the cantatas on this disc has
been recorded before. Wait a minute, what about Telemann? Well, the cantata
'Kaum ist der Heÿland auf der Erden' is included in the catalogue of
Telemann's works because the manuscript which was used for this recording
bears the mark 'di TEL'. But Telemann scholars now favour the view that it
was composed by someone else.

Also questionable is the identity of the composer of whom only the last name
is given in the manuscript of the cantata 'Lobt Gott ihr Christen allzugleich'.
The various possible identities of this 'Hoffmann' are given in the programme
notes, but it all remains speculative for now.

All these cantatas have been found in the archive of the Kantoreigesellschaft
of Mügeln, a small town between Leipzig and Dresden. In the 18th century
the Kapellmeister copied a large number of cantatas, usually for a
small scoring of voices and instruments. Most of the composers were from Thuringia
and Saxony, and in general the cantatas are written in a rather conservative
fashion. Johann Theodor Roemhildt, for instance, uses the recorder in the
two cantatas on this disc, an instrument which in the early 18th century was
becoming increasingly old hat.

This instrument also figures in the first item, 'Nichts ist süßer
als die Liebe' by Emanuel Kegel. He is the oldest composer represented, and
from that perspective the use of the recorder is less surprising. The two
other instruments are the oboe and the violin which in the first aria have
independent parts, whereas the recorder mostly plays colla parte with
the soloist. The cantata contains three arias, interspersed by two recitatives.
In the last aria the oboe and the recorder play unisono. Here we find some
chromaticism in the instrumental introduction which can be explained by the
text which is about death.

'Mit Fried und Freud ich fahr dahin' is written for Purification, and like
Bach's famous cantata 'Ich habe genug' it refers to Simeon who meets the boy
Jesus in the temple and now is ready to die. Hence the first section with
the text of Martin Luther's hymn 'Mit Fried und Freud ich fahr dahin' (With
peace and joy I depart). The text of the first stanza is sung by the bass
to original music, whereas the two violins quote the hymn melody (Wittenberg,
1524) playing unisono. The content of this hymn returns in the strophic aria
which closes the cantata. In between is a recitativo accompagnato.

Roemhildt, in the two cantatas recorded here, also makes use of accompanied
recitative. Most remarkable is the role of the recorder. Both cantatas are
scored for bass, recorder, two violins and basso continuo. The instrumental
introductions to the arias give the impression of a recorder concerto. All
arias are duets of bass and recorder. The use of chromaticism in the opening
aria of 'Es geht kein andrer Weg zum Himmel' stems from the reference to 'thorns',
and in the first aria of 'Meine Sonne stehet stille' the word "stille" (still)
is set to a long-held note. These are just two examples of text expression
found in the cantatas on this disc.

Hoffmann's cantata 'Lobt Gott ihr Christen allzugleich' begins and ends with
the famous Christmas hymn, which is sung by the bass, with 'Vorimitation'
('fore-imitation') in the oboe part. In the second aria the bass is accompanied
by solo bassoon and basso continuo.

'Mein Hertzens=Hauß bereite dich' by Johann Gottfried Donati is written
for Pentecost. The first aria contains some contrast in the B part between
the two closing lines. The last aria has an obbligato part for the oboe d'amore,
which reflects the text about "love beyond all utterance, love that no heart
can grasp".

'Kaum ist der Heÿland auf der Erden', attributed to Telemann, is written
for the Sunday after New Year. Its subject is the Massacre of the Innocents
and the flight of Joseph, Mary and Jesus to Egypt. It is scored for bass,
two violins, viola, cello obbligato and bc. The cello part is in the first
aria, whereas in the last there is an obbligato part for the bassoon. It is
not mentioned in the booklet, and probably was originally scored for the cello
again, but played here on the bassoon instead. The aria 'Herr, die gantze
Welt ist dein' (Lord, the whole world is yours) is particularly expressive.

I can imagine that some people may be sceptical about a disc like this. If
this music has been neglected for such a long time, and if these composers
are completely unknown, could that be explained by a lack of quality? My answer
is: most definitely not. I was impressed by the quality of the cantatas on
this disc. It just shows how much music is still to be discovered, and also
how much splendid music was written in Germany in Bach's time. None of the
music on this disc was ever printed, but that was very common. Some cantatas
were widely disseminated in Germany, and this is because Kapellmeister
often exchanged their works with colleagues in order to diminish their workload
or sold them to increase their income.

Klaus Mertens is an expert in this kind of repertoire, and his performance
is nothing less than brilliant. He grasps every detail in the text and his
articulation and diction are immaculate. Even without reading the lyrics one
can understand every syllable. The instrumental parts are performed equally
well in a truly speech-like manner.

The booklet contains much information about the composers but little about
the individual cantatas. I think this is a general problem because many of
the lyrics of music of the 17th and 18th centuries are full of references
and connotations which are hard to understand for listeners of our time. I
would like to see the authors of programme notes going into more detail about
what the texts of vocal music are about.